Fishing rods typically comprise a handle or hand grip, a blank extending outwardly from the handle, line guides positioned along the length of the blank, and a finger grip extending outwardly and substantially perpendicularly from the handle. Reels are commonly mounted to the fishing rod proximate the intersection of the handle and the blank to form a fishing rod and reel assembly. Storage and/or display of fishing rod assemblies have been problematic. Fishing rods, particularly fresh water fishing rods, can warp if improperly stored, such as leaning the fishing rods against a wall for prolonged periods of time.
In response to this problem, the fishing rod industry developed many fishing rod storage racks that are known in the prior art. These fishing rod storage racks support fishing rods in either a horizontal position, stacked one on top of another, or a vertical position, wherein the fishing rods are disposed side by side.
The horizontal racks generally consist of a pair of horizontally spaced apart lateral sides having vertically disposed slots or protruding arms to provide cradles for receiving and supporting the fishing rods. One cradle typically removably engages and supports the handle or a lower portion of the blank and the mating cradle invariably removably engages and support an upper portion of the blank. Such fishing rod storage racks are often wall-mounted.
Vertical positioning fishing rod storage racks can be either wall-mounted or free-standing. One example of a wall-mounted fishing rod support rack is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,257,700 to Wallace. This rack has upper and lower wire frames. The lower frame has a continuous wire hoop, a wire shelf assembly, and a plurality of bent wire loops. The upper frame has a continuous wire hoop and a plurality of bent wire loops. The tip end of the fishing rod blank is passed through a selected loop of the upper frame from below. The blank is advanced through the selected loop until the butt end of the handle is positioned at an elevation higher than the vertically aligned loop of the lower frame. The butt end of the handle is lowered through the loop of the lower frame until the butt end engages and rests upon the upper surface portions of the shelf assembly. The fishing rods are maintained in a vertical position by the loops of the upper frame engaging the upper portion of the rod blanks. Another example of a wall-mounted fishing rod rack is disclosed by Winkler, Jr. et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 5,588,542. In a similar fashion, this rack includes a lower engaging assembly mountable to a vertical wall surface for receiving a handle of a fishing rod. An upper engaging assembly is mountable to the vertical wall surface spaced from the lower engaging assembly for receiving an upper end of the fishing rod blank so as to support the fishing rod in cooperation with the lower engaging assembly. The upper engaging assembly includes a fixed upper support plate and a pivoting upper support plate that opens to facilitate positioning of the upper end of the rod blank into an aperture directed through the support plates. Optionally, U-shaped clips are pivotally mounted within the individual apertures to removably engage and assist in securing the rod blanks.
Free-standing fishing rod racks typically consist of two spaced apart side boards and three vertically spaced apart members. An upper member has notches to receive and removably engage the fishing rod blanks. An intermediate member is positioned forwardly with respect to the upper member and at an elevation to removably engage the fishing rod handles. A lower, angle board member is positioned vertically below and angled with respect to the upper member. That is, the angle board is downward and outward relative to the side boards. Blanks of the fishing rods are received in the notches and the butts of the handles are rested on the angle board, which urges the fishing rods outwardly to create a shear between the angle board and the respective fishing rods. This in turn urges the handles forwardly against the intermediate board and the blanks rearwardly into the notches to engage the upper member and secure the fishing rods in a vertical position.
A variation of the rack discussed immediately above is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,657,883. In this fishing rod support rack, the intermediate member is positioned vertically below the upper member and has a plurality of holes therein to removably receive the fishing rod handles. The angle board creates the aforementioned shear and urges the fishing rod blanks rearwardly into the notches and against the upper member and the fishing rod handles forwardly against the intermediate member within the holes.
Another type of free-standing fishing rod support rack consists of a lower support platform and an upper support platform. The lower support platform has spaced apart cylindrically shaped grooves or cups to removably receive and support the butts of the fishing rod handles. The upper support platform is vertically disposed above the lower support platform and has aligned clips to removably grasp the fishing rod blanks and hold the fishing rods in a vertical position. In another embodiment of this rack, the upper support platform has notches and the notches are positioned rearwardly with respect to the grooves or cups such that the fishing rod blanks are leaned into the grooves and urged in place by gravity.
Commonly, all of the known fishing rod support racks require a relatively large amount of space and, more importantly, require contact with the fishing rod blank. Contact with the fishing rod blank is undesirable because it risks damage to the blank through cuts, scratches, or marring. Damages of these types create a weak point on the fishing rod blank, which can lead to untimely failure and breakage of the fishing rod at such weakened point when the rod is placed under stress, such as when a fish is on the line.
Accordingly, there is a need for a fishing rod support rack which supports fishing rods in a vertical position without any touching of the fishing rod blanks. Further, there is a need for a fishing rod support rack which occupies less space than a comparable conventional fishing rod support rack that holds a like number of fishing rod and reel assemblies. The present invention is directed to overcoming these deficiencies in the art.